The mobile phone has clearly evolved from its role in the 1970's and 1980's when it was used strictly for communication; to its current standing as a vehicle for entertainment, information, social networking, mini-computing and business transactions.
Tablet computers are just beginning to be adopted for a wide variety of computing and entertainment applications. Combining the rise of the tablet computer with the growth of smart phone usage creates immense potential in facilitating the growth of mobile commerce.
The use of mobile phones for conducting business transactions is growing as new technologies have been developed to support these activities. This trend is also emerging in traditional in-store environments where consumers may use their mobile phones to make payments for goods purchased by waving the phone close to a device that is powered by near field communication technology (NFC).
The consumer may simply provide their name to the store clerk who activates the mobile payment option for payment using a mobile phone or in other instances, merchant may swipe a credit card provided by customer using a hardware attached to the mobile phone that is capable of reading magnetic stripes contained on credit card.